Freed Rajiv case convict wants to return home to Sri Lanka

Santhan alias Suthenthiraraja, one of the seven life convicts granted premature release in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has requested the Sri Lankan President to help him return to the island nation and live there with his aged mother.

In a petition sent to the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, Santhan said he was now lodged in the Tiruchi special camp where foreign nationals facing criminal charges or having no valid documents are kept.

Since he could not meet his mother during his 32 years of incarceration, in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, he appealed to the president to allow him to visit Sri Lanka and take care of his mother. Petitions for renewal of his national identity card and passport were pending with the High Commission, he said.

While A.G. Perarivalan was the first to be granted premature release by the Supreme Court in May 2022, six other convicts — Nalini, Ravichandran, S. Jayakumar, Santhan, Murugan and B. Robert Payas — were released six months later.

Cabinet’s resolution

The Tamil Nadu Cabinet passed a resolution in September 2018, recommending the release of the seven life convicts; but the Governor, instead of taking a decision, referred the matter to the Centre. Finally, the Supreme Court exercised extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and ordered the release of the life convicts.

Robert Payas and Jeyakumar, also Sri Lankan nationals who have been kept in the Tiruchi special camp, have decided not to return to their home country, fearing a threat to their life.

Both have moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High court seeking relief. While Jeyakumar has sought to live with his family in Chennai, Payas has said life in the special camp is miserable and hopeless and he may be permitted to join his kin in The Netherlands or any other country close to it.

Source: The Hindu
--Agencies